Customer journey mapping provides valuable insights into the customer experience across various touchpoints. Yet without a clear link to internal business processes, these insights can fall short of driving real improvements.
That’s where process mining comes in.
Process mining uses specialized software that collects data from a range of business systems — such as enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and ticketing systems — to map workflows and identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
For CX leaders, understanding the principles of process mining helps them better interpret and apply insights effectively. The systems are typically implemented by data scientists or external consultants.
When organizations undertake process mining, they can discover the traps in their operations and workflows that can hinder performance. When applied to customer experience, process mining can link operational systems with customer-facing touchpoints to improve the overall customer journey.
From streamlining order fulfillment and reducing wait times to improving onboarding and financial services, process mining can help organizations turn CX aspirations into measurable, actionable outcomes.
Major retail, consumer packaged goods and healthcare businesses have used process mining to drill down into their operational processes to find where to streamline and enhance customer experience, according to Kerry Brown, transformation evangelist with Celonis.
IKEA, for example, mined its order fulfillment and click-and-collect processes with the goal of improving the customer experience. The furniture retailer aimed to reduce issues like order cancellations while improving the order creation and delivery process for customers.
“It looked at mining data to understand the root causes of customer drop-off points in the order process,” Brown said.
A data-driven approach to CX improvements
By replicating systems and workflows, process mining generates a digital twin of end-to-end business operations, offering a clearer view of areas for improvement.
When applied to CX, process mining can analyze customer data from systems such as website analytics, customer support, payment systems, marketing platforms and rewards programs to identify friction points impacting the customer journey.
Process mining takes the customer experience goals from an aspiration into something that can be measured, analyzed and improved, according to Nick Blackbourn, U.K. head of process intelligence at Capgemini Invent.
“It helps bridge the gap between the desired customer journey and understanding the actual service blueprint or internal processes needed to deliver that journey,” Blackbourn said.
To gain actionable insights and justify the investment of time and resources, CX process mining needs a high volume of data. However, organizations can start with an initial data set from some systems that can be expanded over time to add more customer-centric data points and enhance the analysis, said Blackbourn.
Process mining has been used to improve the patient experience in healthcare, where understanding patient journeys and improving the end-to-end process can result in better care, streamlined systems and lower costs.
For GE Healthcare, process mining was applied to clinician assessments using MRI machines to improve diagnostic processes, explained Brown.
“It allows better care and to be more efficient by streamlining operations,” Brown said.
How process intelligence works with process mining to improve CX outcomes
Process mining uses historical and real-time data to understand what is happening in CX systems. In this way, it provides a foundation for actionable insights by extracting and visualizing process flows.
Building on this, process intelligence applies AI and machine learning to recommend actions and automate improvements to actively improve processes such as CX delivery.
There are at least 40 different process mining platforms — many of which include process intelligence capabilities — such as Aris by Software AG, Celonis, IBM, UiPath, Fluxicon Disco, SAP Signavio, Apromore, Appian, Microsoft and Pegasystems, according to Gartner.
In addition to core process mining capabilities, these applications enable process visualization, dashboards for monitoring performance metrics and insights tailored to business processes such as finance, supply chain or human resources.
When Pepsi faced a 30% order rejection rate during system deployment in new markets, it applied process mining to analyze accounts payable and procurement processes. By applying process intelligence, the beverage company was able to fully understand and then refine the order execution process, according to Brown.
“This helped eliminate the surprises and trip-ups in the order fulfillment process, improving the overall customer experience,” Brown said.
Process mining challenges
While process mining offers valuable insights, organizations can face challenges along the way.
The integrity of organizational data is critical to generate rich insights with CX potential, but many organizations have disparate or incomplete data spread across their network.
“It can be a challenge integrating data from multiple systems to recreate the full customer journey, which process mining technologies need,” Blackbourn said.
In addition, data models need to be maintained and improved, which requires incorporating new data sources and feedback to keep the analysis relevant and valuable.
Organizations must tackle the challenge of collating different types of customer feedback into a usable form for mining. For example, qualitative customer feedback and insights must be translated into quantifiable data that can be incorporated into the process mining analysis.
“Bridging the gap between the voice of the customer and the operational data is an important step in creating a full picture,” Blackbourn said.
Above all, it’s critical that customer experience teams help define "good" and "bad" customer experiences for the business to ensure the data collected and processed is meaningful.
“This allows the process mining analysis to identify and flag the key moments that matter most to customers,” he said.
